In 2002 Hawai'i voters delivered
a shocker, electing Linda Lingle, a Republican, as governor after forty
years of Democratic rule. Nonetheless as the 2004 campaign progressed
the state appeared to be solidly in the Democratic column. Hawai'i
has an all-Democratic congressional delegation and the last Republican
presidential candidate to carry the state was Ronald Reagan in 1984.
Hawai'i received scant attention.

However, after two late polls
showed the race to be even, Hawai'i experienced a flurry of activity.
An October 13-18 survey of 600 likely voters conducted by The Honolulu
Advertiser and released on October 23 showed Bush-Cheney at 43.3 percent
and Kerry-Edwards at 42.6 percent with 12 percent undecided, and a margin
of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points. A October 17-20 survey
of 559 likely voters by the Honolulu Star-Bulletin and KITV released
on October 24 showed Bush-Cheney at 46 percent, Kerry-Edwards at 45.4 percent
and 9 percent undecided, with a margin of error of plus or minus 4.1 percentage
points. Vice President Cheney and Lynne Cheney made the long flight
to Hawai'i for a big rally at the Hawaii Convention Center late on October
31. This was the first visit by a candidate on a major party ticket
since Richard Nixon visited in 1960. For the Democrats, Kerry's
daughter Alexandra spent three days campaigning and she and former Vice
President Al Gore participated in a concert/rally on October 29.
The DNC ran at least $200,000 in TV advertising in the last week of the
campaign, and there were several full page newspaper ads including one
by the Hawaii Government Employees Association, the state's largest union.

Third Party and IndependentNader Ballot AccessNader needed to submit signatures
of 3,711 registered voters (1 percent of votes cast in the last presidential
election) with the Office of Elections by September 3 to appear on the
ballot as an independent. Supporters submitted about 5,700 signatures.
The Office of Elections announced on September 21 that Nader had fallen
39 signatures short and then came back on September 24 saying that had
made an error and Nader had actually fallen 587 names short. A significant
part of the shortfall was due to about 1,500 signatures from people who
were "not registered." Michael Peroutka also fell short, by 240 signatures.
Chief Elections Officer Dwayne Yoshina agreed to review Nader's disqualified
signatures in the presence of the campaign and that process went forward
even as absentee ballots were sent out. On October 8 attorneys for
Nader and Peroutka filed suit in U.S. District Court charging the state's
ballot access law discriminates against independent candidates and that
signatures had been improperly disqualified. On October 13 U.S. District
Judge David Ezra heard the case and ruled that Nader and Peroutka had not
been denied their due process rights; he denied their request for a preliminary
injunction. Meanwhile the review found Nader still short by 373 signatures.
Instead of going to the federal appeals court, the campaign then filed
a lawsuit in the First Circuit Court (state court) focusing on how the
Office of Elections' had considered of its petition signatures.

More Candidate VisitsNADER-CAMEJOJuly 17-18, 2004July 17Press conference, speech
and book signing at University of Hawaii in Honolulu, HI.Fundraiser at private home
in Honolulu, HI.July 18Press conference and book
signing at The Office Edge at Maui Tech Center in Kihei, HI.Rally and fundraiser at
Hapa's Brew Haus in Kihei, HI.